Xu Lanyin said, "I've given you all my money. I don't have any money left to buy pears."

The old woman smacked her lips and said unhappily, "What a silly girl," lowering her voice even more. "I heard that Xu Lizheng's pears are ripe. You're relatives, and you can't afford to buy them, so you can just take a few and eat them."

Gulan Yin just remembered that the book said that the Xu female partner was dishonest and had once stolen pears out of greed. Oh my god, it turned out that she had done it for this woman. Xu Lizheng was a relative of hers, but they were three generations apart, and her father was the clan leader. He usually looked down on them, and he hated such a traitorous girl even more. The original owner had gone to ask for it but failed, and most likely got caught stealing... And after doing it, she hadn't even told this wicked woman about it.

Xu Lan was so angry that her liver ached. Just as she was about to curse, she saw two women carrying wooden basins passing by.

Aunt Liu smiled and said, "You two mother-in-law and daughter-in-law are having a great time chatting. Sister Gu is so lucky to have raised a good son who can study."

He Dasao also laughed and said, "Yes, yes, our town has never had a juren. If Gu Xiucai passed the juren, he would be a master, and the whole village would be honored."

Everyone in the village hated the gossipy and opportunistic Gu Po. Before Gu Wangchen passed the imperial examination, no one paid much attention to her. But after he did, people's attitude towards her changed. Now, Gu Wangchen is taking the imperial examination. Although most villagers doubt he can pass at such a young age, they believe that if he does, he'll become a literary star, and the villagers respect Gu Po even more.

After hearing what they said, Gu Pozi was overjoyed. She raised her hand to wipe her hair and said with a smile, "My son's husband said that he has a 90% chance of passing the imperial examination."

The two women complimented her a few more times before walking towards the stream.

They had just taken a few steps when Granny Gu raised her voice to Xu Lanyin, "Girl Yin, I've told you long ago that a girl should be chaste, quiet, and virtuous. You went to Sujiazhuang to cry and make a scene for no reason. This has ruined Miss Su's reputation, and it's not good for you either."

This woman was so strange, suddenly saying these words, what kind of crazy logic was this? Moreover, she even said the words "chaste, quiet and virtuous", which was too incongruous.

The two women stopped and listened.

The old woman looked at the backs of the two people standing down, and then said to Xu Lanyin, "Also, you are not young anymore. When you see other young men, don't approach them. That will ruin my son's reputation..."

Xu Lanyin looked at the blatantly deceiving Gu Pozi, then reflected on her awful plan to "ask" for the pears. She finally understood. Gu Pozi's words were piercing her heart; she was the one trying to ruin her own reputation. Even if the original owner survived, they would use this as an excuse to break off the engagement. Gu Wangchen wouldn't even need to initiate the breakup himself; those within the Gu family, eager for his advancement, would step in to argue for it. How could a promising scholar marry a thief? Even if Gu Wangchen called her a thief, the original owner, who loved him dearly, would be filled with shame and indignation. He also dragged Su Qing into the mix, perhaps hoping to tarnish her reputation and force her to marry Gu Wangchen.

What a good calculation!

In the book, Gu Wangchen is indeed the backup plan for Miss Su. If Miss Su cannot marry Prince Ping as she wishes, she will definitely choose to marry Gu Wangchen, who has passed the imperial examination.

Besides, Mrs. Gu couldn't say these elegant words, so it must have been Gu Wangchen who taught her.

This mother and son were even worse than she had imagined. Not only did they want to rely on the Xu family to support his education, but they also wanted to break off the engagement once he finished his studies. To protect Gu Wangchen's reputation as a "clean man," they also tried to shift the blame onto the original owner. The original owner had no fault, so they fabricated one.

Thinking back, the foolish original owner had repeatedly run to Sujiazhuang to cry and make a scene, provoked by this mother and son. Otherwise, how would she have known about Gu Wangchen and Su Qing's affairs? Later, the original owner was often bewilderedly scolded by Gu Po, but she didn't understand why. She assumed she had done something wrong and disliked her future mother-in-law, so she tried to please her in various ways. It turned out that Gu Po scolded the original owner specifically to show others what she was doing. She only made those fabricated remarks to tarnish her reputation and pave the way for a breakup.

The gentle and affectionate male supporting role actually harbors such a dirty heart. How could he have the heart to scheme against the little girl who loves him so much that she loses herself?

Xu Lanyin was so angry that she wanted to go up and grab that old woman's face. She endured it for a while before she clenched her fists.

She said loudly, "Auntie Gu, don't say anything careless. Besides your son, when have I ever been close to other young men? Even if I was close to your son, it was to give him money to spend. Also, I went to Sujiazhuang several times to cry and beg Miss Su, because you said that Miss Su had feelings for your son and asked me to warn her... Oh, I see. Now that my father is dead, we are the only orphans and widows left in the family, and you have squeezed all our money. You think I am useless and don't want me, so you started to ruin my reputation and prepare to break off the engagement later."

Old Lady Gu was terrified. How could this silly girl know what she and her son were thinking, and how could she even become so sharp-tongued? Her eyes bulged out, and she looked at Xu Lanyin as if she had seen a ghost, and yelled, "You damned girl, are you crazy? What nonsense are you talking about? I'm just teaching you out of kindness, it's not like what you said. What money do we want from you? What money do we want from you? Don't tell lies like that, you're ruining my son's good reputation..."

You damn old woman, you asked for so much money but you still refused to admit it.

Without waiting for her to finish, Xu Lanyin stepped forward, saying, "Do you want to cancel the engagement? We'll see. Humph, you use my things and eat my things, but you're going to tear down the bridge as soon as you cross the river. Just now you said you wanted to eat pears and asked me to go to Xu Lizheng's house to ask for them, but as soon as you got here you started telling lies and slandering me. My family has no money left, no land left, and we've all given it to you and your son. How can we have money left to buy you pears?"

When I passed by the two women, I saw, as I had expected, their faces were filled with excitement, their eyes wide open, their mouths open, as if they had heard a shocking secret.

From behind came the vulgar curses of the old woman, "You conscienceless little girl, you black-hearted little whore, you keep putting the blame on us mother and son. I worked hard day and night to support my son's education, how could I use your family's money? My son is about to become a juren, how can you ruin his reputation like this? You have no virtue as a woman, no shame, and no understanding of filial piety. Let's see if my son will still want you when he comes back..."

That old woman was particularly vulgar and had no idea what it meant to be "unvirtuous and shameless". It must have been Gu Wangchen who taught her that.

Xu Lanyin stood a dozen meters away from Gu Pozi. Whenever Gu Pozi yelled at her, she would argue loudly, deliberately poking at her sore spots and loopholes.

Mrs. Gu was so angry that she jumped up and down, and after a lot of curse words, she kept saying that the money for Gu Wangchen's studies was earned by her, and how Xu Lanyin disobeyed her...